An expert received a round of applause after he gave a talk on why life after death is "impossible", despite it being quite a bleak concept.
Most of us will have pondered what comes after our time on this planet is over, with varying beliefs all offering different accounts of what might await us.
For some, the promise of heaven and the threat of hell keep them on the right path throughout life, while others believe in reincarnation and various other things.
However for some, including Professor Sean Caroll, existing after we've shuffled this mortal coil isn't a possibility, and what awaits us is nothing.
Back in 2014, Professor Carroll was bestowed with the Emperor Has No Clothes Award by the Freedom From Religion Foundation for his compelling speech titled Atoms and Eve Incompatible, in which he unveiled why he believes an afterlife is implausible.
In a viral clip of his acceptance speech, shared on YouTube by Bernie Zarsoff, Professor Carroll confidently asserted: "There are even many atheists and naturalists who think we just can't say whether there is life after death, there is no evidence one way or the other. So I want to tell you that we can say that there is no life after death. Sorry."
Despite what is a pretty bleak prospect, the audience responded with enthusiastic applause and even laughter, clearly embracing his perspective.
Professor Carroll broke down his argument into digestible components, starting with the assertion that "an afterlife isn't credible" because, as he succinctly put it, "the mind is the brain."
Even as he elaborated on his first point, one audience member couldn't contain their excitement and could be heard applauding vigorously in the background, prompting Professor Carroll to humorously quip: "Thank you brain fans, I like that."
Continuing his argument, Professor Carroll highlighted that the brain is composed of atoms, a fact that forms the basis for his second point. In a somewhat controversial assertion, he went on to emphasize that we possess a comprehensive understanding of how atoms function.
"They work in such a way that when you die, there is no way for the information that was you to persist after death. There's no way for that stuff, that knowledge, that set of beliefs and feelings that made you, you, to leave your body, because it is stuck there with the atoms which are decaying in your tomb or being cremated," Professor Carroll explained, eliciting more laughter and applause from the audience.
While acknowledging that scientists still have much to uncover in the realm of physics, including mysteries such as dark matter, quantum gravity, and the Big Bang, Professor Carroll contended that the existing evidence leans toward quantum field theory as our best understanding of atoms.
"We know enough to say if there are any other forces, particles, fields, phenomena, they can't affect the atoms in your brain because either they're so weak they'd have no effect on what the atoms are doing or we would have found them in experiments. Those are the only two options," he stated.
Professor Carroll concluded with a resolute statement: "Our fundamental framework could be completely wrong. But there is zero evidence for that."
Throughout his speech, Professor Carroll considered two alternative scenarios: one involving an "ill-defined metaphysical substance" that defies the known laws of physics, and the other suggesting that individuals hallucinate when they are near death.
Hopefully thinking about death hasn't derailed your day too much.
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